Ten Days in a Mad-House (1887) records Nellie Bly’s daring undercover investigation for Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World. Feigning insanity, the young reporter had herself committed to the asylum on Blackwell’s Island, then documented the neglect, cold, spoiled food, and cruelty she witnessed among the patients.
Her vivid first-person account caused a sensation, prompted a grand-jury investigation, and led to increased funding and reform for the city’s care of the mentally ill. A landmark of investigative and undercover journalism, it made Bly famous and showed the power of the press to drive social change. Download the free EPUB of this trailblazing report.